This is the Catholic blog of Richard Marsden, doing exactly what it says on the tin. As well as my diary entries, it includes news and views from a young Catholic's perspective, primarily focusing on promoting the defence of human life from the moment of conception until natural death.

About Me

I graduated with a Journalism Studies degree from the University of Sheffield. I worked as a journalist in Northamptonshire for just under three years.
I have now returned to my home city of Hull in East Yorkshire ahead of beginning priestly formation at the Royal English College in Valladolid, Spain, in September 2010.

Other (not exclusively Catholic) blogs

Friday, 12 January 2007

Faith Conference Report

My report on the Faith Winter Conference has been published in this week's Universe on page 3. The newsdesk have accompanied it with a picture of Aishah Azmi, the Muslim teaching assistant who was sacked for refusing to remove her veil.

I decided to run with Sr Andrea Fraile's comments about how Catholics should support Muslim women in their right to wear the veil in order to defend religious expression.

Here's an extract from the report. If you want the full story, buy a copy!

Catholics should support Muslims in their right to wear the Burkha veil in order to defend religious expression, a conference of over 200 young Catholics was told.

Sister Andrea Fraile, a Sister of the Gospel of Life, told delegates at the Faith Winter Conference that people of all religions should unite to combat the threat of secularism.

“The people who are the real problem are those who want to abolish all religion,” said Sr Fraile, who works at the Pro-Life Initiative set up by Cardinal Winning in Glasgow.

Speaking about recent controversies surrounding the wearing of the veil by Muslim women, Sr Fraile said society had been “whipped into a frenzy”.

“If we say that the Burkha is offensive, we will not be able to show any form of religious symbolism altogether,” she said.

“Be sure that you do defend the Bhurka because what you are doing is defending religious expression.”

A main argument made by secularists is that religions make truth claims based on conflicting ideologies which causes destruction, the conference was told.

“The cause of war is not religion and conflicting ideologies,” Sr Fraile said. “The problem is with us.

“If one man sets himself against his brother he will use anything as an excuse.”